


A Magical Wish

by Anonymous



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Essays, Gen, Happy Ending, Harry Potter Needs a Hug, Letters, M/M, Tom Riddle Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 13:07:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19946671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Prompt: First Year AU: An essay is assigned to all first-years with the topic "what do you want from magic?" or "what can magic do for you?" every year as a character study, and Quirrell volunteers for the task of reading & summarizing the mountain of essays for the staff. He pauses when he reads Harry's, because Harry has asked for immortality.





	A Magical Wish

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anna_Hopkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna_Hopkins/gifts).



> A gift for Asa, who has been diligently feeding us in the live-writing channel at CoS for weeks now.
> 
> Have I ever told you how much I love you?? How much I appreciate you? Because I do. A lot ~
> 
> Thanks to Cacau for the Beta ~ You were wonderful <3

A Dark Lord prides themselves on their ability to seduce people to their cause. The usual tempt, bribe, punish and threaten cycle to get the unwilling to do their bidding. To do so, he must know what makes whom tick, who would be willing to pay what cost or which prize. And the inner desires of a child surprisingly don’t change even when they become an adult.

Being the DADA professor, or really, possessing one, is the ideal position to abuse to get that knowledge. A simple surprise test, an essay, for all first years conducted annually as a character study is his chance to do so. The topic is simple, yet as revealing as a Boggart.

_“What do you want from Magic? What can Magic do for you?”_

The first years groan and moan when he declares a surprise test. Only the muggleborn, Granger, from Gryffindor and the Ravenclaws perk up, their eyes shining with determination to prove themselves. It scares even Quirrell, who was once a Ravenclaw himself. Voldemort cursed the weakness of his vessel again, but Quirrell manages to get through the day and the Dark Lord holds back his temper.

The essays are all as usual. Just what he would expect from children. It is a test of his mind, to analyse what each desire well and truly means when taken in a real-life context. A Boggart, when interpreted correctly, can be used to punish and threaten someone. A child’s essay on “What they want Magic for?” is far more revealing and can be used for tempting and bribing purposes.

Some of them want to fly, some want to go to the moon, some want to become rich while some want to become the next Merlin. Some want to bring glory to their family while others want to destroy theirs, some want to stand-out in their family while some want to usurp the position of power in theirs.

Nothing surprising or unique. Until he reads Harry Potter’s essay.

It is a parchment full of chicken scrawl, with no sense of coherence, purpose, no assumptions, no examples and no facts to back those non-existent examples. It is full of what Harry doesn’t want, what he wants and what he wishes for. Yet, it is also an essay that hits too close to his heart, too close to home, and for the first time, Voldemort understands why the prophecy declared Harry Potter to have the power to vanquish him: they are too similar. The only difference is that Tom Marvolo Riddle had learnt the cruelty of the world by this point. He had given up. Harry Potter hasn’t.

It is for this, and this reason alone, that Voldemort decides to protect the boy. And if saving Harry Potter also works towards Tom Riddle’s own first-year wish for finding a family, then it is simply a coincidence.

Years later, after the war is over and his dreams are achieved, the letter that started it all is still in his pocket, safe and secure.

_I don’t want to die._

_I haven’t made friends yet. I haven’t eaten pizza yet. I haven’t learnt how to swim yet. I haven’t spent hours lazying around yet. I haven’t even watched the telly yet. I haven’t won the Quidditch cup yet. I haven’t found people I care about yet. I haven’t found people who will care about_ me _yet. I haven’t met any friends of my parents yet. Hagrid told me everyone liked them and they had lots of friends. Yet not even one has owled me yet. I want to meet them._ ~~_I don’t want to go back for the summer_~~

_I want to go to Brazil and visit my friend, the boa constrictor from the zoo. He was very friendly and polite and thanked me when I released him from his cage, you know?_ ~~_I would have thanked the person who released me from my cupboard too._~~ _I want my own room in my own house. I want my own clothes. I want to go flying with Hedwig. I want to swim with the Giant Squid. I’ve heard that he’s super friendly and can teach you how to swim._

~~_I want to learn a spell to store food without spoiling_ ~~ _~~.~~ I want to eat three full meals a day. I want to pet Hedwig. I want to sleep from sundown to sunrise. I want to be able to get higher scores than Dudley. Does Hogwarts send the report card home? I want to know that. I want to play on the swings. I want to make friends so I can spend the summer with them. Does Hogwarts allow students to stay here at summer break too? I haven’t asked Professor Mcgonagall yet, but I hope it does. _

_I want to do a lot of things. But I can’t do that if I’m dead_ ~~_because Uncle Vernon said he will kill me if I ever return_~~ _ ~~.~~ I just… want to live. _

_So, I want magic to make me not die. I think that’s called immortality. Can magic do that?_

**Author's Note:**

> This was a very short and quick prompt-fill for me and it is and will remain a one-shot. I wrote it to show my appreciation to Asa and nothing more. It is certainly not my best work (sorry Asa), nor do I expect much from it. It's just a gift and as long as Asa likes it, I will consider it to be a successful endeavor.  
> As usual, Comments and Kudos are welcome and appreciated.


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